


There's always a light at the end of the tunnel

by liperbicons, Teddydora



Category: The Trials of Apollo - Rick Riordan
Genre: Bisexual Piper McLean, F/F, POV Piper
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-05
Updated: 2021-02-11
Packaged: 2021-03-15 22:47:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,786
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28571739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/liperbicons/pseuds/liperbicons, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Teddydora/pseuds/Teddydora
Summary: Shelper fiction : from the first time they met since the real start of their relationship
Relationships: Piper Mclean/Shel
Comments: 22
Kudos: 26





	1. Back in school

**Author's Note:**

  * For [acesassinated](https://archiveofourown.org/users/acesassinated/gifts), [thebigqueer](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thebigqueer/gifts).



Piper walked into the class. The bell just rang. Her mission was simple: Don't enter too late or too early. It may seem stupid, but people were capable of judging your entire life based on this simple thing. Not that she cared about others anymore. Piper had learned at her own expense that the only person you have to please is yourself but a little traitorous part of her still hoped to make some friends.

" Stop, you know what happens... you get your hopes up and everything goes down."  
"Oh, I know perfectly" - she thought.

More people started to enter the classroom, joking around with each other. She stared at the clock, waiting for the bell to ring and for their first lesson to start. The teacher was staring at the class, but contrary to a lot of the other ones she’s seen, the woman didn't look mean or intimidating at all. She didn't look like she could have been some terrible monster. If Piper had to associate her with a mythical creature, she would have said a nymph, like the ones at camp who always had a smile and a pat on the back for everyone except for the satyrs who’d get too, er, rowdy. 

Ms. Roberts was stunning, with her dark skin and long ebony hair in beautiful twin braids. The warm September light made it look like a silk blanket or the night sky Piper and her dad would look at often. 

"Please Piper, you can't seriously be crushing on your teacher," she mentally chided herself after realizing that she had been staring too long.

That sentence sounded weird, even after months of thoughts about who she was, and, in particular, who she liked, which led to a simple yet kind shocking conclusion. She liked girls exactly how she liked boys.

"Can you just not think about right now? She won't give you a trophy because you find her attractive, focus on school." 

"As much as she tried to pay attention to the academic side of things, it was so much easier to focus on other things, especially when you were a demigod and every minute could be the minute you could get killed by a random monster. She looked at the door, like she expected, in fact, some random monster to jump in and try to kill her. But she didn't see any monster. The only thing she saw was a group of teens who were entering right now, laughing and probably talking about some awesome shit they did together during the weekend. The teacher looked at them with an eyebrow raised."

“Late during the first day of school? Not quite the best way to start this year off Shelby.” Ms. Roberts said firmly. The light sparkle and twitching lips gave away her true feelings. Their history teacher was not mad at all. On the contrary, Piper could’ve sworn she looked amused.  
The girl smiled sheepishly. “I'm sorry Mrs Roberts, we had some trouble with the car.”  
and sat down with the rest of her friends.

Mrs Roberts shook her head fondly. 

“Make sure you won't do it again, or I will control your car by myself. My sister is a mechanic and I know some stuff. Runs in the family you see."

The whole class let out a collective roar of laughter and all Piper could do was smile awkwardly, desperately not wanting to look like the loser who didn’t know what she was doing. Which she technically was but she didn’t feel like making it obvious to everyone else would leave a good impression.

She turned around to check out the Shelby girl. She shared similar features to Piper. Same nose, eye shape, skin tone. Whoa. Definitely a surprise but a welcome one that’s for sure. Short dark hair and mysterious obsidian eyes made her classmate even more beautiful in Piper’s eyes. With her black eyeliner, leather jacket, alt band T-Shirt, ripped skinny jeans, and combat boots, clothes she could have fitted right in with Cabin 13. Or maybe she could’ve even played a role in one of Piper's dad movies. The rebel daughter or something like that. 

Shel must’ve felt Piper staring at her and turned around to look the daughter of Aphrodite right in the eyes. Shit, she was caught. They shared a look for what felt like an eternity. Piper tensed, praying that she wouldn’t be labelled the weirdo and have everyone avoid her before the first week was even over. Thank god for their teacher who started talking at that exact moment, forcing the two to break eye contact. 

Unbeknown to her, Shelby’s gaze lingered a little longer. 

She knew what was about to happen. The little “presentation about yourself" or as she liked to call it, the "say random shit about you so people will choose if they will avoid you or not" gig.

"Either way, you have to prepare yourself. C'mon, you did some rough shit, this is nothing."- she said to herself. 

"... and today we have a new student, Piper McLean. Piper, would you mind introducing yourself to the class? " said Mrs Roberts with a sweet yet curious tone.

Piper took a deep breath and stood up.

Sometimes facing people was scarier than fighting monsters.


	2. Welcome Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maybe her life wasn't going to be disaster. Maybe, after all, not everything was going to go bad. Maybe, sometimes, change was for the better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW! little mention of homophobia

Piper stood up and walked to the teacher's desk. The whole class had their eyes on her, including the Shelby girl, who looked at her with curiosity, a light in her eyes, as if she was actually interested about what Piper was about to say.  
“That's not possible. She isn't interested in your shit, she's probably just bored and wants to skip a lesson”  
The teacher gave her an encouraging smile. Piper tried to smile back : she didn't know if her smile looked natural or a copy of Pennywise, but whatever.  
-Oh uhm, my name is Piper and I moved here recently with my dad.-  
“Di immortales, why interacting with humans was so difficult?..  
Her mother would have probably not liked that phrase… just like she wouldn't have liked that she broke up with Jason, refused to be the little doll society wanted her to be …  
“Your mom doesn't see people as humans, but as love stories she can enjoy. And, eventually, ruin”  
Apparently that phrase wasn't enough, since the class and Mrs Roberts were still looking at her.  
The teacher seemed to understand her feeling and her panic, because she nodded and asked - Do you like it here? -  
-Uh, yes, it's.. nice. Very calm and quiet-  
They all looked confused, including Mrs Robert's, even if she tried to play it down. She didn't expect them to understand : you don't know what's like to don't have privacy, fear that one day your deepest secrets will be published and having a beauty icon as a father unless you experiment it.  
She couldn't help but look at Shelby. Did she say that everyone looked at her confused? Well, everyone except her.  
She still had that light in her beautiful dark eyes, and an excited grin, like she wanted to know everything about her.  
The two girls shared another look, before the teacher coughed a little - Piper, would you mind sharing some your interests with the class? So we'll get to know each other -  
Contrary to all of her past teachers, she looked like she really meant it, and she didn't do it to humiliate her.  
-Uhm.. I like listening to music, making clothes and jewelries, and drawing -  
Why the fuck did she just share her personal interest she always kept private to anyone but Leo with a bunch of teens she didn't even know?  
She even planned several lies so she wouldn't have got questions…  
"Oh gods, why can't I use charmspeak on myself? My life would easier"  
"Your life would be easier if you weren't a demigod" said some voice in her head. She couldn't agree more.  
Mrs Roberts smiled again - Well that's very fascinating Piper. But now I expect a new necklace just for me - she said with a smirk.  
The class burst out a little laugh, while Piper smiled awkwardly.  
-On a serious note, it would be great to see some of your creations. And there's an Art & Crafts club, if you're interested. -  
-Yeah, thank you Miss -  
-You can go sit now, I'm afraid we have to start the lesson -  
Surprisingly her classmates didn't look annoyed. It seemed like they were curios about what the teacher was about to say, with their looks full of curiosity and their excited grins. And the teacher looked so happy and relaxed, like she actually cared about her jobs and her students.  
“ I could get used to this” Piper thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning : I wanna specify that when I describe Aphrodite and other deities I'm referring to the versions Riordan made of them, and I'm aware that they can be very inaccurate in some points.


	3. Another one of those days

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The sun shines, the birds sing, everything is calm and peaceful. It's just a simple day, as normal as the others. Or at least, that was what Piper thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW : little mention of mysoginy

Piper was walking home in peace, enjoying the sunny weather and the autumn leaves who looked like they belonged in a painting. It was strange to just be strolling along; something that could seem annoying or banal to anyone else, but to her it was so new and enjoyable. 

No fear of the paparazzi everywhere, just her and maybe some birds and squirrels. It was so quiet… maybe little too quiet for a demigod used to feeling every monster’s presence.

Calm down Piper, it's probably some squirrel she chided herself

She had spent all the time after the whole Gaea ordeal training to become more and more powerful. It was a great way to avoid going insane, and especially, after Apollo and Caligula, to avoid thinking about Jason. 

Jason… poor Jason

Like how Leo had told her to do, she spent hours and weeks trying to convince herself that Jason's death wasn’t her fault... and deep down, she knew that he chose his fate and that she couldn't do anything about it. But her heart had the advantage over her brain and she couldn’t forget Jason trying to help, like he always did, and the blood and his dead body laying on the beach… and the awful noise he made when he was stabbed. It never left her brain, like a repeating song of trauma.

If only I hadn’t left him... maybe he’d still be here. Maybe we’d both be here and happy and together and alive. But I had to go and ruin everything, as I always do.

Piper took a deep breath. It was hard ignoring that voice, but she promised herself that she wouldn't let intrusive thoughts run her life. Ruin her life. 

No, it wasn’t my fault, she told herself, I didn't feel in love anymore, I did what was the best for us both.

She didn't want to use Jason, or make him believe she loved him when she didn't. It would’ve been wrong to play with his feelings like that. He didn’t deserve that.  
But why? I always found him beautiful, always admired his courage and kindness, why all of a sudden did I not love him anymore?  
Did I ever love him, in the sense of true love? Did the fact that I think girls are attractive and beautiful and so pretty and soft have something to do with it? 

A crashing noise interrupted her thoughts. It turned out that her demigod sixth sense was right and she wasn't alone.  
Before she could even say “Olympus” three monsters came out of the trees, making a beeline for her. They probably could smell her scent and they had been hiding there, waiting for her to pass by alone

-Did we ruin your first day, little girl?- said the first one with a greedy, hungering look on its face, while the other two laughed. 

Piper felt her blood boil. She recalled Dylan the ventus and how he’d had an expression just like that, even if he had been a wind spirit thingy and this was some scaly snake troll. Same snarky overconfidence. Only difference was she knew what she was doing here. 

She grabbed her dagger out of the pocket of her backpack, having it hidden there just in case. She knew she would have risked her life in the mortal world, people had warned her. Plus, the weeks on that ship in the middle of the Atlantic and the Mediterranian hadn’t exactly made her naive to the dangers of being a demigod. 

-Oh, you wanna attack us? The three of us, against a girl? This’ll be fun. I haven’t had such easy pickings for a while.- And they charged at her. 

A rush of adrenaline possessed Piper, filling her with all the repressed anger and rage she had felt in the last few weeks, like she had downed several Red Bulls and a Five Hour Energy in one go. 

She dodged the first blow, causing the two sidekicks to crash against each other and knock themselves out. Then, she stabbed them both, and they disappeared in a cloud of golden sparkles, leaving a pair of disgusting toenails and spoils of war. 

-So you aren't that bad, apparently. Or maybe it's just beginners luck.- He grabbed her arm to prevent her from killing him too. She tried to wriggle out but his grip was strong. 

-Good try. What a shame you'll die now-he opened his mouth and Piper recoiled. It’d been a while since she’d smelled breath as bad as his. Maybe she was lucky to have forgotten lunch, this would’ve definitely made her throw up

She decided to do what always saved her: bluffing. 

Painting a falsely confident smirk on her face, she said, - If I'm that weak, why did you call for help?-

The monster looked quite confused, - I didn't.-

-You didn't? Then what's your friend doing up here in the sky?-  
He looked up for just a second, but Piper managed to take her dagger back.  
He turned around and when he realized, he made an horrified expression, but it was too late. She stabbed him right in the heart (or at least, where the heart was supposed to be. She didn't know how monsters’ anatomy worked and she wasn’t interested in it).

A mortal would have probably been upset and exhausted, but this was a routine for a demigod, even if she did want a hot bath and a good extra nap after this. She wiped her dagger clean and put it back in the school bag, making sure no one saw her. When she turned around, Shel was right here, staring straight at her, mouth open in surprise.


	4. Forget Her

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Piper's life has always been weird. She faced monsters, emperors and every kind of weird shit. But now, being caught fighting monsters by a mortal girl who shouldn't even know about her world.. well, that's definitely in the top five.

You,” Shel said, pointing her finger at her. She looked around, as if she was expecting the monsters to come out again. “They.. they were here, and you were fighting. You killed them.” The last part came out as quiet as a whimper, her hand shaking in fear. 

Piper stood her, with her mouth closed. She didn't know how to answer. She knew the Mist did bad pranks to mortals, making them see things rational to them - a monster could have tried to drown her in the ocean and all the mortals would have seen would have been a big wave or something like that. 

Several questions flashed through her head. How did she see all of that? Was she a demigod? A clear sighted mortal? Rachel Dare at camp was one and Percy had once mentioned that his mom could see through the mist. Maybe Shel was one too? What could she say?

“Ay, Shel, the Greek gods exist and I'm part of this weird and dangerous world where I fight monsters before breakfast and am the child of an ancient goddess” Top ten way to get put into a hospital right here.   
Instead, she just smiled awkwardly. 

“What did you see?” 

Shel looked at her like she just said that mayo was actually made of toothpaste. Though Piper thought she would have been more inclined to believe that rather than accepting the facts that real life was a mythology book. 

“What did I see? Maybe three weird monsters that tried to kill you? Do you always kill monsters in front of people or I'm the only one? Because if so, I feel honored. ”  
Piper was quite surprised. That sarcasm reminded her of Leo. “How's that possible?” she muttered to herself while Shel frowned at her, face still full of fear.   
She took a deep breath “Ok, listen Shel, that's not how it seems.” Urgh, she felt the need to smash her head into a wall.

“It's not how it seems” That was something weird guys in 2000s movies said when they were trying to convince their girlfriend that they didn’t cheat on them when she caught him red handed. It was not the response to having been witnessed to apparently have committed murder in broad daylight

Incredibly, Shel was still here, listening to her. 

“It's- it’s a lot more complicated than you think. You.. you shouldn't have seen this in the first place”

“Even though I'm very good at ignoring people,it's not very easy to ignore flying demons”

Piper shrugged, trying (and probably failing) to remain nonchalant, “Look, it's a long story and my dad is waiting for me. He will worry if I don't come back and -”

“Fine,” snapped Shel “But you still owe me an explanation, McLean.”

Then she opened her bag, grabbed some paper and a pen, wrote something and gave it to her. “Here's a place where we can meet up. I don't think your dad would like you to talk about monsters with strangers on the phone either. Come here at six.”

And then she went away before Piper had even the time to make a single noise in surprise, her mouth the one dropped open this time


	5. Just a girl

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A lot of things that people consider normal are a new for Piper ; and just when her life finally could look like the life of a basic mortal a random girl comes and ruins all her plans

Piper stood right here for some minutes, shocking her head. 

“Your dad is waiting for you, hurry up” 

She grabbed her backpack and walked on to her home. She was so lost in her thoughts that she wouldn't have noticed that she was at home if she hadn’t heard a familiar voice. 

“Piper, you're back. Come here, lunch is almost ready”  
Piper nodded and tried to smile.  
She looked at her new house. To a lot of people, going from having an enormous, luxurious house in California and a bunch of money to living in a farm near some town forgotten by everyone would have been a downgrade. But to Piper, that simple farm, with all the meadows full of flowers and trees around felt more like home than the villa on the beach ever did. She could spend entire afternoons in the grass, picking little flowers, drawing and playing the guitar. Or just lying there, thinking about things that didn’t really matter and ignoring her memories

“Piper, hurry up or lunch will be cold”  
Another new thing: her father actually cared about her, not having some new movie or work to do and was actually there for her, not shipping her off to places for other people to look after. 

Sometimes, she wondered if it was just a dream and she would wake up in her bed, in her old life once again

The house was pretty small compared to the one in Los Angeles, but Piper found it so cosy and home. It was made of wood, and there was an open space with a living room with two couches, a big rug and some throw pillows scattered around

Behind that, there was the kitchen where her dad was making some cheeseburgers right now. She dropped her backpack slowly on the rug and she sat at the wood table, where her dad handed her a plate of what it seemed like a hamburger.  
She was about to remind him that she was vegetarian, but he said with a smile “A vegetarian burger for my little girl. Only tofu burgers for you.”

Piper took it carefully, as if she was afraid he would have burned or something.  
She bit it and smiled, it wasn't like Leo’s tacos but oh well, no food was as good as Leo’s tacos.  
“So Piper, how did the first day go? Were the teachers good? And your classmates?”  
“Yep, all good,” mumbled Piper while finishing her second burger, “Mrs Robert is very beautiful.. and intelligent of course.”

She hadn’t come out to her dad yet. Hadn’t found it in herself to do so. Why? she continually asked herself, he's not homophobic, is he? and he's not going to pull out the “my religion says I can't support you” card. so why? 

Deep down she knew: after years of being ignored and neglected, opening up to her father was like opening up to a relative who has only seen you when you were born and now is asking questions about your life.  
Piper knew he was having a hard moment, and he was still trying to be a better father but it was still very difficult for her too. 

“And your classmates?” he asked after a little awkward moment of silence 

“Yeah they're... nice” 

Weirdly, this time it wasn't a lie. They didn't seem like the popular people who bullied her in the past. 

“I'm happy for you, Pip.” 

“Thanks dad. How's your day been? “  
“The usual, all pretty good “  
Her dad worked all day at the farm, taking care of the diary farm, taking care of the cows, feeding them, cleaning them, all that. 

She was happy that he worked so much, so he had too many things to do to think about his past life. 

“Uhm well, I'm gonna go to- to my room.”

“Yes of course,” She grabbed her backpack and went upstairs. 

Her room wasn't very big compared to her old room, but it was so much more comfortable and calming. At the center there was a double bed, but that was the only thing that came with the house when they moved here. 

Piper had to paint her walls and decorate her room how she preferred (not that that was a bad thing).Now the walls were full of ancient style murals of beautiful women as well as quotes from her favourite poems and songs. On her bed there was the guitar she bought years ago, near her sketchbook : the things that kept her sane. 

She looked at herself in the big mirror against her bed : long black hair combed in two long braids, an Hello Kitty t-shirt that matched her Hello Kitty earrings, mom jeans and black Converse.  
Was that enough to meet with Shel? 

Are you really panicking over a meet with a random girl? It isn't even a date, Nevertheless, Piper felt insecure, Eh, you can do it. You're beautiful, confident and in a pinch you can stab her she repeated to herself like she promised to do every day.  
She took a deep breath and went downstairs. 

“Dad, I'm going for a walk"

**Author's Note:**

> ty for reading, I really hope you liked it! have an amazing day /night /afternoon. ❤️


End file.
